2001 Best Practices Study

A NALYSIS OF A GENCIES WITH R EVENUES B ETWEEN $500,000 AND $1,250,000

B EST B USINESS P RACTICES A NALYSIS

C USTOMER S ERVICE AND S ATISFACTION The Best Practices agencies in this revenue category consider customer service and satisfaction to be one of their key strengths and competitive advantages. They typically enjoy high retention rates, which are the result of delivering on the basics – accuracy, quick response, technical competence, friendly staff, frequent communications, good value for the dollar – and by matching appropriate service with client needs and desires. These agencies vary dramatically regarding their client bases. A key practice, however, is to tailor their services for each customer segment, looking for ways to create value-add in the client relationship. This is accomplished by proactively addressing issues that might affect the client’s business or personal lives. Examples given included such things as reminding a client that his defensive driving credit was expiring or alerting a construction trade client in an area with a large Hispanic trades population to a construction safety class taught in Spanish. By helping the contractor make his workforce more aware and perform better from a loss control standpoint, the agent/client relationship moves from transactional to consultative.

“We try to respond to each request, each question, each contact like we were employed by that client as their out- sourced risk manager. We don’t want our organization to appear to be a sales organization to anybody we work with. I would rather they consider us as their employee. In fact, we refer to our prospecting as job hunting.” “Our renewal process for every account over $10,000 in premium involves a total review from top to bottom. We let the client know what is happening in the marketplace, talk to them about whether or not they want us to market the account, who we might market it to this year and why we would recommend marketing or not. Although we may have been on the account for a number of years, it is an opportunity to show the client we know their business and to make sure the competition doesn’t get in the door.”

H IRING , D EVELOPING , AND R EWARDING E MPLOYEES

Many of the agencies in this study group worry about their inability to obtain human capital. Smaller agencies find it difficult to “get a fair shot” at really good talent and to attract new blood into the business since they lack the resources to train inexperienced producers. When they do make the decision to hire, the most success comes when they have prior knowledge of the person they are hiring. Most indicated that knowledge came through their industry involvement that afforded them the opportunity to get to know the person or hear of them by reputation.

“I pay my staff on the higher end of the range for this geographic area, not the highest. But every employee has the opportunity through our incentive and bonus plan to make far more than the high end of the scale if they want.”

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